I like not knowing the theory. It makes things more interesting to leave some mystery of the mechanics undiscovered.

I know a lot of people like this, but the secret is...even when you know the theory, you discover more than you ever possibly could not knowing it. There are always mysteries. Even those rooted in oral tradition know theory.

Believe me, I work in an instrument shop that is deeply rooted in the folk world. Very few people I talk to on a regular basis can read staff notation. I get that a lot of people hate learning to read music and the theory it has, but learning scales, the circle of fifths, inversions, jazz chords, etc. really open up a person's musicality.Just my two cents on why theory is vital.

So I thought for mother's day I would send my mum a recording of myself playing and singing one of her favorite songs on Ukulele. Especially fun because she has no idea I've learned to play the Uke. So I asked her a bit ago what some of her favorite songs are. She told me... pretty much without pause "I just wanna celebrate" by Rare Earth. UM. So odd to me because 1) Last I saw the CD's she kept in her car it was Madonna, Michael Booby-lay, and maybe some 60's mix with Cat Stevens. Then she told me another favorite was "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd. Oh mum.

So now I'm learning "Wish you were here". It's kind of painful for me because I really don't like Pink Floyd. That's not a bad song though I guess. I'd have preferred to do "I just wanna celebrate" but I tried to figure it out and really couldn't. It's very scratchy electric guitary and there's really nothing I could find on the interwebs for help to Uke-ify it. Not good enough yet with identifying notes/chords via ear.

Practice, scales, drills, over and over again, every day if you can, for sure. Private voice lessons *can* be really useful but it can be hard finding a good coach for stuff that doesn't fit neatly into classical/jazz/musical theatre styles. I've gone to a couple who helped me with fundamental techniques like diaphragm support, but I have had very little luck getting in touch with someone who can roll with the fact that singing all wrong is sometimes integral to my style.

I thought took some group classes and sang in a few choirs to see if that would help, but neither of those did anything for me. Ah, well.

Singing in groups helps me to learn to how to better hear/feel notes and pitch and things I think. I learned so much doing this musical I recently did, just because I was thrown into a situation like that, standing next to people singing a completely different harmony and yet still having to carry my own and just almost feel it instead of hear it.

And yeah, for me, singing every day for sure... and also recording myself singing a lot and listening to it. Sometimes even recording myself purposefully trying out different sounds and feelings when I sing even if they are purposefully silly.

I... tuned my ukulele and strummed it absentmindedly yesterday. For me, this is huge progress. Despite having a music degree and being an ex-music teacher, I am riddled with Extra Strength Music Avoidance. I want nothing more than to make music, so I spend all my energy avoiding it. Weird, eh?

My new band (well, duo - my friend plays cello, I play piano accordion and sing) is finally starting to get some bodgy recordings online. We're called Coral Ceto, after an Ancient Greek sea monster goddess (mother of Medusa and the other Gorgons, amongst many others). Everything we play is ocean-themed, and we dubbed our genre "Aquatica" (I don't know if that's actually a thing already, but whatever).

Putting my stuff out there is really huge for me because I took a break from playing publicly for a year or two whilst my voice changed. After heaps of work, I finally feel like it's sounding ok again and I'm really excited to be playing more.

Speaking of singing (for VeganinBerlin): I learned to sing in highschool choirs, and learned to use my diaphragm better through playing a wind instrument. Since then, I've basically just written songs and practiced. In front of a mirror, singing with others, singing alone, learning to project enough to be heard without amplification over a 120-bass piano accordion, then having my voice change and re-learning all the positions of various notes in terms of muscle memory (that was fun). So yeah, I'm of the "just keep doing it" school. Drills and warm-ups and exercises around mouth shape and vowel sounds have been really interesting for me because it's allowed me to experiment with lots of different vocal sounds and find something I like. Practising in front of a mirror is really good for that. I definitely have a lot of work to do on my voice still, but I'm happier with where it's at these days.

_________________If I chew on garlic that's been in a vagina, isn't that exploiting SOMEONE? - coldandsleepyAfter all, you can't spell Richard Dawkins without "dickwad". - EmperorTomatoKetchup

I've been taking singing lessons for the past months now and I'm liking it actually. First of all it really helps my self confidence. I'm just so shy and still I'm afraid to sing in front of my teacher sometimes when she asks me to do difficult or weird stuff but it's getting better. Secondly, before I always sang really high and with a very soft voice that sounded very breakable. I used to think it sucked and then I thought it actually sounded not too bad with the kind of songs I was writing/singing (very melancholic depressing stuff). The teacher got me singing "Aint no sunshine" which already was different for me. But when I sang "La Llorona" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq3dJgUyM_c) I realized how much stronger my voice can sound when I sing differently.

My teacher kinda said "yeah, your angelic spheric kind of singing is great but maybe we can expand". I really like it even though I'm still very scared of every class. It takes so much energy to get there. I used to have a piano teacher as a child who was so horrible to me, I never got over the fear of singing/playing in front of other people. But it's getting a bit better.

Awesome, Vegan in Berlin! I'm glad you took the leap and started classes. I took a few months of private voice lessons last year, and I progressed by leaps and bounds during that time (I had been an on and off choir singer for 10 years). Like you, it really improved my confidence and my technique. I learned that I had been signing too high out of my natural range for a long time, and going back to my true range allowed me to expand away from the very blend-y voice you need in a choir and into more fun stuff like operatic singing and musical theater type of things.

If you can, doing the breathing and core strengthening exercises daily (urgh) really helps, no matter how mindnumbingly boring they are. I already had a pretty good understanding and control of my mouth muscle from doing accent reduction work, but if you don't, looking up anatomy or orthophonics books can be useful.

My new band (well, duo - my friend plays cello, I play piano accordion and sing) is finally starting to get some bodgy recordings online. We're called Coral Ceto, after an Ancient Greek sea monster goddess (mother of Medusa and the other Gorgons, amongst many others). Everything we play is ocean-themed, and we dubbed our genre "Aquatica" (I don't know if that's actually a thing already, but whatever).

Putting my stuff out there is really huge for me because I took a break from playing publicly for a year or two whilst my voice changed. After heaps of work, I finally feel like it's sounding ok again and I'm really excited to be playing more.

Speaking of singing (for VeganinBerlin): I learned to sing in highschool choirs, and learned to use my diaphragm better through playing a wind instrument. Since then, I've basically just written songs and practiced. In front of a mirror, singing with others, singing alone, learning to project enough to be heard without amplification over a 120-bass piano accordion, then having my voice change and re-learning all the positions of various notes in terms of muscle memory (that was fun). So yeah, I'm of the "just keep doing it" school. Drills and warm-ups and exercises around mouth shape and vowel sounds have been really interesting for me because it's allowed me to experiment with lots of different vocal sounds and find something I like. Practising in front of a mirror is really good for that. I definitely have a lot of work to do on my voice still, but I'm happier with where it's at these days.

Aquatica!!! I LOVE IT. I love the name and I love your sound.

I'm in the same boat (ha, boat!!) with re-learning to sing after my voice changed. If you ever wanna talk to someone else going through it, I'd love to talk to you about that more. If you want to of course.

_________________Man, fork the gender card, imma come at you with the whole damned gender deck. - Olives Did you ever think that, like, YOU are a sexy costume FOR a diva cup? - solipsistnationblog!FB!

Aw, thanks! It's so good to get such lovely feedback from another music nerd. I'd love to talk about voice-changing stuff sometime. Send me a PM? Or I'll send you one? (Probably sometime later, when I'm not supposed to be getting ready to go to work!)

_________________If I chew on garlic that's been in a vagina, isn't that exploiting SOMEONE? - coldandsleepyAfter all, you can't spell Richard Dawkins without "dickwad". - EmperorTomatoKetchup

I'm getting ready to audition for a solo in my choir's performance of Carmina Burana, a sexy little number called "Omnia Sol Temperat". I suspect my voice type isn't quite what our director is looking for on this particular solo, but I'm gonna go for it anyway and see what happens. This is a recording of it that I really like (no, not me singing!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL50fy4ZrN8

_________________Man, fork the gender card, imma come at you with the whole damned gender deck. - Olives Did you ever think that, like, YOU are a sexy costume FOR a diva cup? - solipsistnationblog!FB!

I'm learning One Fine Day on the ukulele. It's really fun to play and sing, but omg the lyrics are messed up! I never really paid attention when I would hear that song on the radio. haha.Also, I have my new keyboard! I took piano lessons for 10 years, but that was 15 years ago! I still remember some stuff, but I am AWFUL at reading base clef now. totally forgot how to do that. I'm learning a bach minuet and hedwig's theme from harry potter, which are both pretty much at my level with a lot of practice, so I think that will be good to get me started.

_________________I am not a troll. I am TELLING YOU THE ******GOD'S TRUTH****** AND YOU JUST DON'T WANT THE HEAR IT DO YOU?

i'm so excited that this thread exists! I'm working on re-learning Bassoon & my end goal is to be able to play andante e rondo (also known as hungarian fantasy I think) by Weber. http://youtu.be/wD-ovH3T8WM I'm pretty sure I've talked about it a lot already here but now I know where to talk more about it!

I'm singing in front of some other people (and other students of my teacher, too) in two weeks and I'm so nervous to be standing in front of other people and sing on my own. I used to sing in choirs but that is so different, I'm pretty scared :(

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lepelaar wrote:

The PPK is a mere cooking seminar for flexitarians who believe in the good of man, but might be a good resource for 3d video expertise and ready-made inhumane slaughterhouse timelines.

I am forever working on this song. Despite the fact that I wrote it, the vocals and accordion part still slay me, and if I don't practice regularly then I just lose it completely. Sustaining that rhythm plus really letting my voice rip, but still getting the full resonance to it.... it's a work in progress. I was pretty happy with this performance of it back in March, though, but more work to be done!

_________________If I chew on garlic that's been in a vagina, isn't that exploiting SOMEONE? - coldandsleepyAfter all, you can't spell Richard Dawkins without "dickwad". - EmperorTomatoKetchup